US4990866A - Voltage controlled microwave oscillator using a varactor as inductance - Google Patents

Voltage controlled microwave oscillator using a varactor as inductance Download PDF

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Publication number
US4990866A
US4990866A US07/494,211 US49421190A US4990866A US 4990866 A US4990866 A US 4990866A US 49421190 A US49421190 A US 49421190A US 4990866 A US4990866 A US 4990866A
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United States
Prior art keywords
oscillator
varactor
circuit
capacitance
varactors
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Expired - Fee Related
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US07/494,211
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English (en)
Inventor
Michel Martheli
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Alcatel Lucent NV
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Alcatel NV
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
    • H03B5/00—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input
    • H03B5/18—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising distributed inductance and capacitance
    • H03B5/1841—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising distributed inductance and capacitance the frequency-determining element being a strip line resonator
    • H03B5/1847—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising distributed inductance and capacitance the frequency-determining element being a strip line resonator the active element in the amplifier being a semiconductor device
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
    • H03B2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to details of oscillators covered by H03B
    • H03B2200/003—Circuit elements of oscillators
    • H03B2200/004—Circuit elements of oscillators including a variable capacitance, e.g. a varicap, a varactor or a variable capacitance of a diode or transistor
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
    • H03B2201/00—Aspects of oscillators relating to varying the frequency of the oscillations
    • H03B2201/02—Varying the frequency of the oscillations by electronic means
    • H03B2201/0208—Varying the frequency of the oscillations by electronic means the means being an element with a variable capacitance, e.g. capacitance diode

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a voltage controlled microwave oscillator commonly referred to by the abbreviation VCO.
  • a microwave VCO is a microwave oscillator whose oscillation frequency is controllable by means of a voltage.
  • the state of the art may be illustrated, for example, by Documents U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,169 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,904, both of which relate to two-slope VCOs, each having two distinct voltage control accesses:
  • the invention is applicable to VCOs in general, regardless of whether they have two tuning slopes or not.
  • VCOs such as that described in above-mentioned Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,904 for example, may have good spectrum quality, they suffer from the drawback of being incapable of sweeping over a bandwidth of more than 15%, whereas in certain applications, it would be desirable for the VCO to be capable of covering a bandwidth of more than 40% while still retaining good spectrum quality.
  • the invention seeks to remedy this drawback.
  • the invention provides a voltage controlled microwave oscillator (VCO), said VCO including an active device such as a transistor, etc., which is adjusted to be potentially unstable in a determined frequency band, and a tuning circuit whose phase needs to be adjusted in order to compensate the phase of the active circuit, said tuning circuit including at least one parallel resonant circuit which is constituted by putting an adjustment capacitance and a varactor in parallel, the assembly constituted by said varactor and its housing being intended to operate normally at frequencies which are considerably lower than those of the VCO.
  • VCO voltage controlled microwave oscillator
  • reference 1 designates the active device of the oscillator, said active device being conventionally constituted, for example, by a bipolar transistor fed with a voltage (-V) between a terminal 2 and ground, and in entirely conventional manner being biased so as to be potentially unstable in the band of oscillation frequencies under consideration.
  • the output from the oscillator is taken from terminal 3.
  • oscillation occurs if the phase of the tuning circuit applied to the active circuit 1 (e.g. the base of a bipolar transistor) via a coupling capacitance 5 compensates the phase of the active circuit 1.
  • the active circuit 1 e.g. the base of a bipolar transistor
  • the tuning circuit 4 is constituted by two circuits connected in series, comprising a steep slope coarse tuning circuit 6 and a gentle slope fine tuning circuit 7.
  • the fine tuning circuit 7 comprises a conventional varactor 8 connected in parallel with a capacitor 9 whose capacitance is of the same order of magnitude as that of the varactor 8, thereby, in conventional manner, reducing the ratio of maximum capacitance to minimum capacitance across the terminals of the varactor 8, and consequently reducing the sensitivity of the VCO to its fine tuning control.
  • the fine tuning control voltage (+Vf) is applied via a resistor 10 and a high impedance transmission line 11 to the point where the capacitances 9 and 5 are interconnected. Fine tuning control current returns to ground via another high impedance transmission line 12.
  • a capacitor 33 decouples very high frequencies from the fine tuning control voltage Vf.
  • the transmission line 12 does not merely serve to ground the control current. It is interchangeable and thus adjustable in length: by adjusting its length, it is possible to modify the total phase variation of the tuning circuit obtained by causing the fine tuning control voltage Vf to vary over a given range, thereby making it possible to adjust the sensitivity of the VCO to its fine tuning control.
  • the coarse tuning circuit 6 is constituted by the series connection of three varactors 13, 14, and 15, with a small value adjustable capacitance 16 being connected in parallel with the varactor 13 and an adjustable capacitance 17 providing the connection to the fine tuning circuit 7.
  • the coarse tuning control voltage (-Vc) is applied to the point interconnecting the varactors 13 and 14, and to the point connecting the varactor 15 with the adjustable capacitance 17.
  • Control current flows through a bias resistance 18, and a high impedance transmission line 19 to the pair of varactors 13 and 14, and via a high impedance transmission line 20 to the varactor 15, and it returns to ground via a third high impedance transmission line 21.
  • Capacitances 22 to 24 are connected between the junction points between the components 18 to 20 and ground, thereby decoupling high frequencies from the coarse tuning control voltage (-Vc).
  • the varactors 13, 14, and 15, and in particular the varactor 13 are most unusual: these varactors, together with the housings containing them, are varactors which are normally intended to operate at frequencies that are considerably lower than the frequencies of the VCO.
  • the varactors 13 to 15 in their housings should normally be intended to operate around 400 MHz to 500 MHz.
  • parasitic inductances intrinsic to the housings dominate: from the microwave point of view, they appear to be inductances and not capacitances.
  • the value of the total capacitance of the coarse tuning circuit 6 determines the frequency at which the VCO oscillates. This value is adjusted by the variable capacitance 17 connected in series with the varactors 13 to 15.
  • its central oscillation frequency may be adjusted by adjusting the value of its capacitance 17;
  • its sensitivity to its fine tuning control may be adjusted by adjusting the length of the transmission line 12.
  • the adjustable capacitance 17 could be replaced by another varactor, which would lead to four varactors being connected in series in the coarse tuning circuit 6.
  • the varactors 14 and 15 could be "ordinary” varactors, i.e. designed to operate at the oscillation frequency band of the VCO.
  • the varactor 8 could also be of the same "special” type as the varactor 13, in which case the capacitance 9 would no longer have the above-mentioned utility.
  • the polarities of the control voltages Vc and Vf could be inverted, providing corresponding inversions are made to each of the varactors in the corresponding circuits, etc. . . . .

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  • Inductance-Capacitance Distribution Constants And Capacitance-Resistance Oscillators (AREA)
US07/494,211 1989-03-15 1990-03-14 Voltage controlled microwave oscillator using a varactor as inductance Expired - Fee Related US4990866A (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
FR8903412A FR2644647B1 (fr) 1989-03-15 1989-03-15 Oscillateur hyperfrequence commande en tension
FR8903412 1989-03-15

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
US4990866A true US4990866A (en) 1991-02-05

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US07/494,211 Expired - Fee Related US4990866A (en) 1989-03-15 1990-03-14 Voltage controlled microwave oscillator using a varactor as inductance

Country Status (5)

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US (1) US4990866A (de)
EP (1) EP0387745A1 (de)
JP (1) JPH02280405A (de)
FI (1) FI901222A0 (de)
FR (1) FR2644647B1 (de)

Cited By (11)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5434542A (en) * 1992-04-03 1995-07-18 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Oesterreich High-frequency oscillator for 1.6 to 3 GHz frequency range
EP0823777A1 (de) * 1996-08-05 1998-02-11 TDK Corporation Spannungsgesteuerter Oszillator und Abstimmverfahren dafür
US6160449A (en) * 1999-07-22 2000-12-12 Motorola, Inc. Power amplifying circuit with load adjust for control of adjacent and alternate channel power
US6166598A (en) * 1999-07-22 2000-12-26 Motorola, Inc. Power amplifying circuit with supply adjust to control adjacent and alternate channel power
US6271731B2 (en) * 1997-04-15 2001-08-07 Ericsson Inc. Control circuit for programmable frequency synthesizer
US6349216B1 (en) 1999-07-22 2002-02-19 Motorola, Inc. Load envelope following amplifier system
US6438360B1 (en) 1999-07-22 2002-08-20 Motorola, Inc. Amplifier system with load control to produce an amplitude envelope
GB2379104A (en) * 2001-08-21 2003-02-26 Zarlink Semiconductor Ltd Voltage controlled oscillators
US20040012454A1 (en) * 2002-07-18 2004-01-22 Wallace Raymond C. Wideband VCO resonant circuit method and apparatus
US20040104780A1 (en) * 2002-11-28 2004-06-03 Woo Sung Hun PLL having VCO for dividing frequency
US8547181B2 (en) 2009-02-10 2013-10-01 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forschung E.V. Oscillator with ohmically adjustable oscillation frequency

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5373259A (en) * 1993-05-05 1994-12-13 Qualcomm Incorporated Voltage controlled oscillator with dissimilar varactor diodes

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2494929A1 (fr) * 1980-11-27 1982-05-28 Orega Electro Mecanique Oscillateur hyperfrequence a transistor, accordable par tension
US4598423A (en) * 1985-02-28 1986-07-01 Rca Corporation Tuning circuit for a multiband tuner
US4684904A (en) * 1986-01-06 1987-08-04 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air Force Low phase noise two port voltage controlled oscillator
US4736169A (en) * 1986-09-29 1988-04-05 Hughes Aircraft Company Voltage controlled oscillator with frequency sensitivity control

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FR2494929A1 (fr) * 1980-11-27 1982-05-28 Orega Electro Mecanique Oscillateur hyperfrequence a transistor, accordable par tension
US4598423A (en) * 1985-02-28 1986-07-01 Rca Corporation Tuning circuit for a multiband tuner
US4684904A (en) * 1986-01-06 1987-08-04 The United States Of America As Represented By The Secretary Of The Air Force Low phase noise two port voltage controlled oscillator
US4736169A (en) * 1986-09-29 1988-04-05 Hughes Aircraft Company Voltage controlled oscillator with frequency sensitivity control

Non-Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
Microwave Journal, vol. 30, No. 5, May 1987, pp. 347 348, 350, 352 353, Norwood, Mass., US; J. Kitchen: Octove Bandwidth Varactor Tuned Oscillators , (p. 47, paragraph: Varactor Diodes. *
Microwave Journal, vol. 30, No. 5, May 1987, pp. 347-348, 350, 352-353, Norwood, Mass., US; J. Kitchen: "Octove Bandwidth Varactor-Tuned Oscillators", (p. 47, paragraph: Varactor Diodes.
Schaffner, "Put the Varactor's Inductance to Use", Electronic Design, vol. 21, Oct. 11, 1967, pp. 78-82.
Schaffner, Put the Varactor s Inductance to Use , Electronic Design, vol. 21, Oct. 11, 1967, pp. 78 82. *

Cited By (15)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5434542A (en) * 1992-04-03 1995-07-18 Siemens Aktiengesellschaft Oesterreich High-frequency oscillator for 1.6 to 3 GHz frequency range
EP0823777A1 (de) * 1996-08-05 1998-02-11 TDK Corporation Spannungsgesteuerter Oszillator und Abstimmverfahren dafür
US5852388A (en) * 1996-08-05 1998-12-22 Tdk Corporation Voltage controlled oscillator and sensitivity adjustment
US6271731B2 (en) * 1997-04-15 2001-08-07 Ericsson Inc. Control circuit for programmable frequency synthesizer
US6349216B1 (en) 1999-07-22 2002-02-19 Motorola, Inc. Load envelope following amplifier system
US6166598A (en) * 1999-07-22 2000-12-26 Motorola, Inc. Power amplifying circuit with supply adjust to control adjacent and alternate channel power
US6160449A (en) * 1999-07-22 2000-12-12 Motorola, Inc. Power amplifying circuit with load adjust for control of adjacent and alternate channel power
US6438360B1 (en) 1999-07-22 2002-08-20 Motorola, Inc. Amplifier system with load control to produce an amplitude envelope
GB2379104A (en) * 2001-08-21 2003-02-26 Zarlink Semiconductor Ltd Voltage controlled oscillators
US6683509B2 (en) 2001-08-21 2004-01-27 Zarlink Semiconductor Limited Voltage controlled oscillators
US20040012454A1 (en) * 2002-07-18 2004-01-22 Wallace Raymond C. Wideband VCO resonant circuit method and apparatus
US6801097B2 (en) * 2002-07-18 2004-10-05 Qualcomm Incorporated Wideband VCO resonant circuit method and apparatus
US20040104780A1 (en) * 2002-11-28 2004-06-03 Woo Sung Hun PLL having VCO for dividing frequency
US6967538B2 (en) * 2002-11-28 2005-11-22 Hynix Semiconductor Inc. PLL having VCO for dividing frequency
US8547181B2 (en) 2009-02-10 2013-10-01 Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Zur Foerderung Der Angewandten Forschung E.V. Oscillator with ohmically adjustable oscillation frequency

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2644647A1 (fr) 1990-09-21
JPH02280405A (ja) 1990-11-16
FI901222A0 (fi) 1990-03-12
EP0387745A1 (de) 1990-09-19
FR2644647B1 (fr) 1991-05-24

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